Chapter Summaries

Su Jiu exposed a Phantom Blood Demon impersonating Yun Huanling and learned that the demon controlled a blood-mist domain where she could read minds. The demon brought Su Jiu to a cave, returned the real Yun Huanling unharmed, and asked Su Jiu to stay and keep her company.

• Su Jiu recognized that the wounded Yun Huanling was an impostor, and the fake transformed into a Phantom Blood Demon.
• The Phantom Blood Demon revealed that Yun Huanling had failed to recognize her disguise and offered to take Su Jiu to him.
• Su Jiu agreed, and the Phantom Blood Demon transported her to a cave within her domain.
• Su Jiu found that human cultivators were likely held in a nearby cave and checked Yun Huanling's pulse after the demon brought him to her unharmed.
• The Phantom Blood Demon said Su Jiu was the first person to enter her domain without losing herself and asked her to stay as company.

Su Jiu fought the Phantom Blood Demon in the Blood Mist Forest and discovered that her innate origin qi could injure it. The demon let Su Jiu leave but demanded Yun Huanling stay, and Su Jiu began casting Thousand-Mile Ice Seal to counter it.

• The Phantom Blood Demon offered to release everyone if Su Jiu stayed with her, but Yun Huanling woke and joined the confrontation.
• Su Jiu struck the demon with ice-infused sword qi and Ice Spikes, while the demon revealed that cultivators trapped in its domain could not leave and eventually died.
• The Phantom Blood Demon attacked Su Jiu with a blood spike, but her wound began healing, and the demon sensed innate origin qi in her body.
• Su Jiu inferred that the demon had used its true body to attack her and confirmed that it recoiled from her blood.
• The Phantom Blood Demon said Su Jiu could leave but Yun Huanling had to stay, so Su Jiu began casting Thousand-Mile Ice Seal.

Su Jiu destroyed the Phantom Blood Demon and discovered the Blood Mist Forest had become a wasteland, then faced Fang Xi, who had plotted to kill her and Yun Huanling. Though Su Jiu was badly weakened, she prepared to fight Fang Xi inside the Secret Realm rather than let her escape and threaten her later.

• Su Jiu used her blood-infused Arts to destroy the Phantom Blood Demon, which claimed she had been created as a sacrifice and would not survive ascension.
• The Blood Mist Forest became a desolate wasteland, and Su Jiu's cultivation rose to Foundation Establishment Great Perfection, though she remained drained of blood and vitality.
• Fang Xi arrived, and Yun Huanling identified her as the woman who had tricked him into entering the forest; Su Jiu deduced Fang Xi had lured them in to kill them and was wearing a Phantom Garment.
• Yun Huanling protected himself with a defensive formation after Fang Xi attacked, and he urged Su Jiu to wait for the Secret Realm to open.
• Su Jiu rejected the plan to hide in a formation and resolved to kill Fang Xi in the Secret Realm, where a sect could not pursue someone killed in retaliation for attempted murder.

Su Jiu defeated and killed Fang Xi, then helped question disciples rescued from the Blood Mist Forest while Yun Huanling discovered an ancient star map and a draining blood pool. Meanwhile, Qin Ming and Tang Wuchen followed the Demonic Sword to a deserted village and found an altar that matched a mural Qin Ming had seen, leaving him with an ominous suspicion.

• Su Jiu trapped Fang Xi in ice, condemned her history of killing disciples, and killed her with Purple Ultimate as Yun Huanling recorded the fight.
• Su Jiu and Yun Huanling found one awakened disciple in the Cave and learned that the Phantom Blood Demon had lured the disciples into the Blood Mist Forest.
• Yun Huanling examined the blood pool cave, recognized an ancient star map on its walls, and saw the pool begin to drain before rushing to Su Jiu.
• Qin Ming and Tang Wuchen followed the Demonic Sword through a desolate forest to an abandoned village and found it hovering above a huge Sacrificial Altar.
• Qin Ming recognized the village from a mural in the Cavern and connected its missing section and the bones in the forest to the altar, forming an ominous suspicion.

Qin Ming and Tang Wuchen watched the Demonic Sword absorb all the blood in the sacrificial furnace, while Su Jiu recorded the strange formations beneath the blood pool and left the Secret Realm. After Su Jiu exposed Fang Xi’s actions with a Recording Stone, Yun Huanling and other sect leaders confronted Sect Leader Li of the Heavenly Dawn Sect.

• The Demonic Sword drew all the blood from the Artifact Refining Furnace, and its demonic qi overwhelmed its spiritual qi before Qin Ming and Tang Wuchen could stop it.
• Su Jiu copied the teleportation and time formations beneath the empty blood pool, then left the cave with Yun Huanling and spent the rest of their journey gathering aged spirit herbs.
• Su Jiu emerged from the Secret Realm, where she learned that half of the Heavenly Dawn Sect’s disciples had not returned and the entrance soon closed.
• Su Jiu played a Recording Stone that revealed Fang Xi had targeted her and plotted against Qi Yu, prompting other sects’ disciples and leaders to condemn Sect Leader Li.
• Yun Huanling demanded that Sect Leader Li answer for Fang Xi’s actions, and the Heavenly Secret Sect’s leader turned against the Heavenly Dawn Sect.

Su Jiu exposed the Heavenly Dawn Sect disciples who had robbed other sects, forcing Sect Leader Li to expel them and offer compensation. Back at Ice Veil Peak, Chu Luohen advanced to Nascent Soul, and Su Jiu prepared to tell him and Chu Mojin about the Phantom Blood Demon.

• The Heavenly Secret Sect left after its leader accused the Heavenly Dawn Sect of severing ties, and Tang Wuchen showed a Recording Stone of Heavenly Dawn disciples robbing the Medicine Gate.
• Su Jiu showed another Recording Stone revealing that five Heavenly Dawn disciples had planned to rob her before she killed them, and Sect Leader Li expelled the six involved disciples and offered resources to the Medicine Gate and Heavenly Secret Sect.
• Ning Hai privately warned Su Jiu not to act rashly without elders present, and Qin Ming asked to exchange information after his coming attempt to reach the Golden Core stage.
• Chu Luohen completed his Nascent Soul advancement at Ice Veil Peak, where Su Jiu and Chu Mojin congratulated him.
• Su Jiu joined Chu Luohen and Chu Mojin in Ice Veil Hall, recognized Chu Mojin's Frost Condensation Dew, and considered telling them about the Phantom Blood Demon.

Su Jiu confronted Chu Mojin about the Blood Mist Forest and Phantom Blood Demon, but Chu Mojin and Chu Luohen kept their knowledge from her. Chu Luohen rebuked Su Jiu for lying and relying on the sect to protect her, leaving her stung by his accusations.

• Chu Mojin gave Chu Luohen the Hidden Qilin, and Su Jiu asked her master about the Nightfall Cold Pool and the Blood Mist Forest.
• Su Jiu showed Chu Mojin a recording of the Blood Mist Forest and said she had killed the Phantom Blood Demon, but Chu Mojin denied that such a demon existed.
• Su Jiu questioned why only foundation establishment disciples could enter the Cold Pool Secret Realm, and Ning Hai and Xia Jue arrived as she warned that its dangers might escape.
• Ning Hai asked how Su Jiu had killed the Phantom Blood Demon, and she gave an evasive answer before he left with Xia Jue.
• Chu Luohen accused Su Jiu of lying to people who cared about her, and she argued that Chu Mojin and Chu Luohen had kept secrets from her too.
• Chu Luohen angrily said he had concealed the truth to protect Su Jiu and criticized her conduct, asking what she took him and the sect for.

Su Jiu reflected on her recent mistakes, then traveled toward Wing City, where she rescued an injured young cultivator from a demonic cultivator. Meanwhile, Lin Yue resisted the demonic cultivators who had killed her fellow disciples, and Sect Leader Xu sent Feng Piaoxu to retrieve two senior sisters.

• Su Jiu received Qin Ming's message asking her to meet in Wing City in a month and sent out four Message Talismans before leaving.
• Lin Yue confronted three demonic cultivators over the deaths of two Heavenly Music Pavilion disciples and warned them not to harm any more of her fellow disciples.
• After Lin Yue left, the demonic cultivators discussed finding another Personal Disciple to help them resurrect a Zither Spirit.
• Sect Leader Xu ordered Feng Piaoxu to go to Wing City and bring back her two senior sisters.
• Su Jiu killed a demonic cultivator who was about to defeat a young Dao Cultivator, then caught the injured boy and gave him medicine.
• As Su Jiu prepared to leave, the boy grabbed the hem of her robe.

Su Jiu rescued the lost rogue cultivator Yi Feng and escorted him to Wing City, where she met Qin Ming at a restaurant. After learning Qin Ming had advanced beyond what she could sense, Su Jiu said she planned to wait a few years before forming her core.

• Su Jiu gave Yi Feng Grain-Banishing Pills after he woke and explained that he had gotten lost, run out of supplies, and been attacked by a demonic cultivator.
• Su Jiu agreed to take Yi Feng to Wing City, revealed her name, and learned he knew of her victory in the Grand Tournament among the major sects.
• Su Jiu and Yi Feng reached Wing City, where Yi Feng promised to repay her after the Talisman Competition.
• Su Jiu arrived at the Guest-Arriving Restaurant and met Qin Ming, while a white-robed man recognized her as someone he had heard about.
• Su Jiu congratulated Qin Ming on his cultivation and said she would wait a few years before attempting core formation; Qin Ming approved of her decision.

Su Jiu and Qin Ming compared what they had learned in the Cold Pool Secret Realm and uncovered the rivalry between Wing City's two factions. Su Jiu stayed to watch the southern faction's Array Master Competition, while Feng Piaoxu arrived and found her two dead senior sisters, swearing to avenge them.

• Sun Fan invited Su Jiu and Qin Ming to judge the Sun Household's Talisman Competition, but they both refused.
• Qin Ming explained that the Sun Household and Hua Household had divided Wing City into rival factions after the City Lord and Young City Lord disappeared.
• A waiter revealed that the Sun Household's Talisman Competition and the Hua Household's Array Master Competition would be held on the same day.
• Su Jiu and Qin Ming exchanged their accounts of the Secret Realm, but could not explain why demons had appeared there or why their cultivation had been suppressed.
• Su Jiu decided to stay in Wing City for the Array Master Competition, while Qin Ming returned to the Jade Sword Sect.
• Feng Piaoxu found her two dead senior sisters outside the city, placed them in Crystal Coffins, and vowed to avenge them.

Feng Piaoxu pursued clues about the two women in pink while the Sun Household and its allies discussed Lin Yue and their plans for personal disciples. At the formation tournament, Su Jiu met Hua Luoluo and considered earning a formation master certificate, but the first round had already begun.

• Feng Piaoxu questioned a rogue cultivator and learned that the two women in pink had headed toward North City.
• The head of the Sun Household decided not to kill Feng Piaoxu, while the cloaked old man said Lin Yue should be left alone until she could be used.
• Lin Yue overheard that her Zither Spirit could not be restored and began laughing and crying.
• Su Jiu went to watch the formation competition and recognized Hua Luoluo, who encouraged her to take the formation master assessment.
• Su Jiu considered the protection a formation master certificate could offer, but decided it was too late to register for the current round.

Su Jiu watched Zheng Qilong reveal his unusual formation talent and learned that his power came from the Spirit-Nurturing Pearl, then discovered a demonic cultivator had infiltrated Wing City. Meanwhile, Lin Yue negotiated with a female demonic cultivator over reviving her zither spirit, unaware that the planned Soul Summoning would include a restraint.

• Hua Luoluo offered to help Su Jiu enter the competition, but Su Jiu declined to avoid taking sides between the Hua and Sun Households.
• Zheng Qilong carved five first-tier formation disks, announced he would attempt the second-tier assessment, and glared at Su Jiu as he left the stage.
• Su Jiu recognized Zheng Qilong’s Spirit-Nurturing Pearl when he used it outside the city, where a golden-core cultivator tried to steal it.
• Zheng Qilong escaped the attacker with a formation and a Thousand-Mile Divine Movement talisman, while Su Jiu identified the attacker as a demonic cultivator and sent a warning about Wing City.
• A female demonic cultivator told Lin Yue that the elder would perform Soul Summoning for her zither spirit with a restraint intended to prevent Lin Yue from defecting.

Lin Yue pretended to accept the woman’s plan to control the Zither Spirit while secretly plotting against the Demonic Cultivators. Su Jiu reunited with a familiar visitor and learned Yi Feng had become a certified second-tier Talisman Master, while Lin Yue later confronted a false Zither Spirit in a dream and demanded to know what the three people wanted from her.

• Lin Yue concealed her mockery after the woman confirmed that gathering the Zither Spirit’s soul pieces would put him under their control.
• Su Jiu noticed a woman in a Black Veil Hat watching her, followed her into an alley, and emerged looking toward the Sun Household with a fierce glint.
• Yi Feng visited Su Jiu at night to show off his second-tier Talisman Master badge and explained that he had joined the Rogue Cultivator Alliance.
• Yi Feng kept recounting the assessment until Su Jiu lost patience and kicked him out of her room.
• Lin Yue dreamed of a spirit posing as her Zither Spirit, learned that he felt restrained, and woke to demand that the three people tell her what they needed her to do.

Lin Yue learned that the demonic cultivators planned to use her to lure Feng Piaoxu into a formation, while the Sun Household Head prepared to help them kill sect disciples. The chapter ended with Feng Piaoxu marked as the first target, though Lin Yue’s cold resolve suggested she might resist.

• A demonic cultivator threatened Lin Yue’s Zither Spirit and ordered her to lure a fellow disciple into a prepared formation.
• Lin Yue learned that Feng Piaoxu had come to Wing City and secretly touched her Black Stud Earring after the demonic cultivators left.
• Sun Fan confronted his father, the Sun Household Head, over his alliance with demonic cultivators and his plan to kill personal disciples.
• The Sun Household Head struck Sun Fan and restrained him with a Spirit-Locking Chain.
• The Sun Household Head recalled how resentment over the sects’ refusal to help him had led him to ally with the demonic cultivators.
• The Sun Household Head decided Feng Piaoxu would be the first personal disciple to die.

Lin Yue reunited with Feng Piaoxu, then lured her into a formation where demonic cultivators revealed Lin Yue’s betrayal and her role in the deaths of Senior Sister Qing and Senior Sister Hong. Lin Yue insisted she would not regret her choice to help them in exchange for a chance to revive the Zither Spirit.

• Feng Piaoxu drank herself unconscious after failing to find clues about her fellow disciples’ killer, and Lin Yue found her and helped her sober up.
• Lin Yue told Feng Piaoxu she had come to take her home, then led her through a deserted alley under the pretense of collecting hidden belongings.
• Three demonic cultivators appeared, and Lin Yue used an Immobilizing Talisman to trap Feng Piaoxu inside a formation.
• Lin Yue apologized and said she had joined the demonic cultivators to bring the Zither Spirit back to life.
• The demonic cultivators revealed that Lin Yue had helped kill Senior Sister Qing and Senior Sister Hong, while Feng Piaoxu pleaded with her to stop.
• Lin Yue asked to look at Feng Piaoxu once more, then said she would not regret her choice.

Su Jiu rescued Feng Piaoxu from the Demonic Cultivators’ formation, and Lin Yue killed the woman bound to her by a master-servant contract before dying herself. As Lin Yue’s memories of her childhood with her senior sister surfaced, Su Jiu remembered their meeting in Wing City and Lin Yue’s discovery that she could see artifact spirits.

• Lin Yue discovered the Demonic Cultivator had repaired the formation, while Su Jiu entered the Killing Array to break it from within and found the injured Feng Piaoxu.
• Su Jiu trapped the three Demonic Cultivators, and disciples from the Heavenly Music Pavilion and Azure Tide Sect arrived and killed two of them.
• The surviving Demonic Cultivator claimed that killing her would doom Lin Yue, exposing Lin Yue’s connection to the Demonic Cultivators and shocking the gathered disciples.
• Lin Yue stabbed the Demonic Cultivator and died as memories of her childhood with her senior sister returned to her.
• Su Jiu picked up Lin Yue’s repaired Ancient Zither and recalled Lin Yue asking whether she could see other people’s artifact spirits.

Lin Yue told Su Jiu about the demonic cultivators at the Sun Mansion and the spy within the Azure Tide Sect, then asked her to help stop their plot and protect Feng Piaoxu. Lin Yue died, leaving Su Jiu to place a Soul-Gathering Pearl in her zither as the Heavenly Music Pavilion mourned her.

• Lin Yue revealed that three Golden Core demonic cultivators planned to target sect disciples and named Liu Xing'er as the Heavenly Demon Sect spy in the Azure Tide Sect.
• Lin Yue asked Su Jiu to seek Azure Tide Sect help against the demonic cultivators and to protect Feng Piaoxu, explaining that she might use Piaoxu to draw them into a killing array.
• Lin Yue gave Su Jiu a Soul-Gathering Pearl and her Ancient Zither, asking her to set the pearl into the instrument and give it to Piaoxu if Lin Yue died.
• Lin Yue told Su Jiu she did not regret joining the Heavenly Music Pavilion, then left without Su Jiu realizing she had said goodbye.
• After Lin Yue died, Feng Piaoxu and the Heavenly Music Pavilion disciples mourned as Su Jiu set the Soul-Gathering Pearl between the zither strings.

After Lin Yue's death, Su Jiu's lie gave Feng Piaoxu hope of seeing her senior sister again. At the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion, Hongguang discovered Su Jiu's fate was entangled with changing destiny stars and suspected she was the Demon Star, but a visiting young man urged him not to judge her fate prematurely.

• Sect Leader Xu mourned Lin Yue as he reread her final Message Talisman, while Feng Piaoxu treasured Lin Yue's zither and believed Su Jiu's claim that its pearl could bring her back to life.
• Hongguang saw two linked fate stars for the Child of Destiny, watched the original star dim as the new one brightened, and noticed the Demon Star straying from its ordained path.
• A young man joined Hongguang on the Distant Lookout Platform and argued that the Demon Star might not be evil, while Hongguang's attempt to calculate Su Jiu's fate made him spit blood.
• Hongguang said he suspected Su Jiu was the Demon Star and worried that trouble might threaten the Azure Tide Sect, but the young man reminded him that Su Jiu had shown no signs of being vicious or disastrous.
• The young man warned Hongguang not to provoke Chu Mojin over an uncertain fate, then left Hongguang alone, still tugging at his beard.

The Azure Tide Sect refused the Liu Household’s shameless demand to take Liu Xing'er back, and Chu Mojin produced evidence of her collusion with a Demonic Cultivator. The head of the Liu Household disowned her, but Ning Hai stopped him from leaving, leaving the confrontation unresolved.

• Hongguang entered seclusion after realizing she had been running away, while the story recounted the Nightfall Cold Pool’s origins and the weakening formations that could let its surviving threats escape.
• The Liu Household’s head arrived at the Azure Tide Sect and demanded that Liu Xing'er be returned, claiming the sect’s cultivation manuals should go with her.
• Ning Hai and the Peak Masters refused to release Liu Xing'er, and Household Head Liu tried to pressure them with accusations of unfair treatment.
• Chu Mojin played a recording from Lin Yue’s black earring that implicated Liu Xing'er in colluding with a Demonic Cultivator.
• Household Head Liu disowned Liu Xing'er, but Ning Hai raised a barrier to prevent him from leaving.

The Liu Household head tried to use Liu Xing'er’s scandal to break away from the Azure Tide Sect, but Ning Hai exposed his motives and reclaimed the Sound-Mixing Bell and Skyfaring Shuttle. The Liu Household left the sect, while Chu Mojin suspected they had found a more powerful patron.

• Ning Hai revealed that the Liu Household head had planned to use Liu Xing'er as an excuse to leave the Azure Tide Sect and discredit it.
• Ning Hai demanded the return of the Sound-Mixing Bell and Skyfaring Shuttle, which he had lent to the Liu Household centuries earlier.
• Ning Hai reclaimed both treasures, and the Liu Household head realized he had never truly mastered the Sound-Mixing Bell.
• The Liu Household head ordered his people to leave, and Ning Hai declared that the sect and household would part ways while allowing Liu disciples to choose whether to stay.
• The Liu disciples in the sect chose to remain, and Chu Mojin said the Liu Household had found a stronger power to shelter behind.